1 flliiMl Itetorjr* 



American Pipit.— Til-Lark.— (4n(Au« ludmician-at.) 



BT W. A. STBABNS. 



Having been during the past, year on a eoUectlnK expedition 

 to the coast of Librador, it was iny good fortune to becooie so 

 Intimate with this bird that a short acROunt of It may be of inter- 

 est. The tit-lark Is an abundant Summer resident, aod breeds 

 all along the coast ot Labrador from Mingan to Red Bay, a dis- 

 tance of over five hundred miles, and Is always a familiar, well- 

 known and pleasing songster. I flrat became acquainted with it as 

 an abundant, or at least more than common resident at both Old 

 Fort and Bonne Esperance Islands. These first two places are 

 not more than eight miles apart, and I then thought it probable 

 that all the islands about that part of the coast were equally 

 abundant breeding places, as I have found out that they are. 

 On the 7th ot May I started on a trip up the coast, and 

 arrived at Mingan on the 39f.h; the next day I saw the tit-lark 

 tor the first time, and afterward I found It on nearly all the 

 Islands and places visited. Being absent during the egging 

 season, I missed the eggs and nest, though I am informed that It 

 breeds abundantly, and the boys and people along the coast 

 recognized the bird everywhere, 

 j The name by which the pipit Is known In Labrador is that of 

 wagtail, the spotted sandpiper being the only other bird that I 

 know of that thus dips it* tall and Is here found on the coast; 

 this latter has the name of crooked winged bird. I could find no 

 other bird that had a similar name ot wagtail. The first speci- 

 men I shot was a young bird, and after I became familiar with 

 the species, I would often spend the beet part of an honr In 

 watching the bird as It stood In some obscure corner of the 

 yard pluming Itself and resting, or slowly walking from place to 

 place before finally taking wing. 



The young bird seems much larger than the adult, at least by 

 Impression, If not by actual measurement. I have often mis- 

 taken It for the young of eremophila mrnula, which at a little 

 distance It mnch resembles; but I could Invariably detect the 

 difference. Among other dlHerences the shore-lark hops, while 

 the pipit walks. It was impossible to mistake the full-grown 

 bird, whose sleek, cunning app«arance, as you came near it, 

 Btrnck you at once. The bird Is here called the wagtail, and It 

 possesses that peculiarity of so many, or rather so few of our 

 epeclce, of dipping and waving the tall when at rest, whence the 

 name. On perching, the bird Immediately begins this movement, 

 as If to secure a proper balance or fqalllhrinm. The movement 

 is generally a dipping of the whole hiud part ot the body, either 

 straight up and down, or diagonally, bo It thus often gives the 

 aj g £ earaucc of waving the tajl from side to side; this I have 

 ' never Been the bird do. Atter fairly balancing Itself the waving | 

 motion ceaseis, and the bird sits for a time with the tail pointing 

 in a straight line with the rest of the body. I have carefully 

 watched these movements, time and again, and am thoroughly 

 convinced that this wagging motion is not a normal condition 

 of the body, but simply a means of acquiring the normal resting 

 position, and due to some peculiarity in the body structure 

 Itself. (I have not seen the bird hold the tall downward at a 

 slight angle with the body, as do moat fly-catchers and such like 

 species) ; the head is inclined upward and the neck drawn in. 

 After a short time the bird will become sprightly again and pre- 

 pare to fly off. I have sometimes seen It dip the tail without 

 moving the rest of the body, but this less frequent than the 

 other movement. 



It will often allow me, especially should It be a young bird, to 

 come within a few feet even ot where it is feeding without tak- 

 ing wing, nor do I think this 1b caused from the fact of Its being 

 a young bird since the old ones have allowed the same privilege, 

 though less often 



The walking movement Is a rather short (at least not long) 

 step, and while busy picking up food (which In all eases exam- 

 ined, and I have dissected the gizzards of a good many, appears 

 to ba insects especially ot the coleopterous kind, judging from 

 the legs and antennse ot which there were always numerous fresh 

 remains) ; It looks about sharply, occasionally glancing at the In- 

 truder, while picking here and there among the rubbish on the 

 ground. 



The old bird, though very tame, is less easily approached, and 

 much more cunning and mouse-like, If I may use the term, than 

 the young. On approaching. It walks or runs along to near 

 some sheltered tuft of grass or concealed pla'-e, and crouching, 

 draws In and down Its head, lowers Its tail (of course the cemer 

 of the back is thus somewhat raised so that the outline of the 

 bird forms an obtuse angle), and either creeps away or remains 

 ! perfectly still, as it regards the situation more or less dangerous. 

 X have watched it in a like position for some ten or fifteen min- 

 utes at the very least, while it is almost safe to say half an hour 

 — at least until I was myself tired of watching longer— without 

 Its making aii apparent movement; when tired of watching I 

 moved, and the bird then flew o£E with a wild, irregular, low, but 

 slowly rising flight, tipping from side to fide as do many ot the 

 sandpipers. When the flight is for a short distance only, It seems 

 to be rather undulating. I have often seen the old bird rise 

 In a series of Irregular spirals to quite a height, when 

 it would seem to flutter or substaln Itself by a series 



of trembling flatterings. only to soon dart ofiE to the 

 right or left, and descend a short distance as If to alight, but 

 Instead of so doing continue Its flutterlngs, and presently dart oS 

 again in some new direction. Conceiving at first that this might 

 be owing to some bewilderment, I arose from my crouching posi- 

 tion; all the time I was standing the bird c.jQtinued these wild, 

 irregular movements; almost the moment I again crouched, the 

 bird descended and ailt. I tried this experiment several times, 

 and almost always with the same result. The longer I remained 

 standing, the ra.ire Irregular were the mjvementa in the air 

 directly after being fiushed, while. If I crouched at the Instant 

 of flushing. It immeiliately lit at a shirt distance only from its 

 former place. It this proves anything, It seems to incline to the 

 fact that the bird at tills season ot the year, at least, Is not par- 

 tial to long flights. It may be said that the bird would not 

 naturally fly high or long in the height ot the breeding season, 

 yet I have seen if, eoriuti take extraordinarily long and high 

 flights, to Its own app*rrint delight and preference, in the very 

 midst of its breeding season. While in these gyrations the pipit 

 seldom utters a note, except an Decisional sound which ap- 

 proaches more to the attempt to whistle, on a medium but not too 

 shrill key, the word wheep; this is repeated once, twice, or even 

 three times in rather slow succession. This same sound Is uttared 

 as the bird files about from place to place, but generally, so tar 

 as my observjtlon goes (except when on the wing or frightened 

 into a forced flight), it usually picks up Its food In silence. 



The young fellows, about the several places visited, recognized 

 the bird, and tell me that It builds its nest In a low tree, against 

 the trunk, or some large, stout limb of a small tree; that it is 

 made of mud, plastered with grasses, much like a robin's, and 

 that the eggs are "smaller than any other egg we ever saw," I 

 offered a small fortune. In the eyes of a Labradorlan, for a nest 

 and eggs, or simply a nest of the pipit, bul; was too late in the 

 season. I have many promises for next year which I have no 

 doubt will be fulfllled. The bird appears so common In certain 

 localities, that I have often seen over a doz^n, by actual count, 

 all within a tew yards of me, both young and old, hopping about 

 and feeding with as much apparent unconcern as It they were 

 not aware of my presence. 



Of seven specimens measured and examined the following ac- 

 count may be given : 



No. I. Length, 6 75; extent, 10.50; wing, 5 50; tall, 3 50; 

 bin, .45. General color, ashy brown, with a decided slate blue 

 tint above; quills, brownish black, whitish edged; no distinct 

 wing bars; secondaries, whitish edged, like the quUis; tail more 

 nearly black, outer feathers white, exeepl; on the uppar Inner 

 four-fifths; next pair, barely touched with white on the outer 

 edge; tall coverts, barely llgut coffee tinge; breast, pale coffee, 

 thickly speckled with brownish bUck, No, 3. Length, 6 So; ex- 

 tent, 10,50; wing, 3 50; tall, 3.35; bill, .50. Ojlors, similar to 

 No. 1; a clearer brown beneath, and very few pilnts ot brown on 

 the breast. T. No. 3, Ljugt.h, 6.60; extent, 10 30; wing, 3.25 ; 

 tall, 3.30; bill, .48. Very similar, still browner beneath, and 

 more spotted than either No. 1 or No. 3. The feathers above, 

 dark centered. A young bird (young T?) Neck nearly pure 

 slate blue; huffy brown beneath, lighter on i,he sides; under tali 

 coverts white; deep buffy on thnjat and upper breast, more or 

 less speckled in a long narrow streak, each side ot the throat, by 

 black centered spots of an oblong arrow shape in the center of 

 each feather. No. 4. Length, 6 50; extent, 10,60; wing, 3,40; tall, 

 2.30; bill, .48; tarsus, 85; middle toe and claw, ,83; hind toe and 

 claw, 75; hind claw, .38. Upper throat and chin with an evenly 

 defined, yellowish white, unspotted area. The two maxillary 

 streaks of spots extending downward on either side, evenly and 

 equidistant from top to bottom. Upper breast and lower throat 

 spotted with the same color as the back, in inverted triangular 

 points (the apex toward the throat), ending the ctinter ot each 

 feather. All the other lower parts buffy white; under tail coverts 

 white; sides beneath wlags more or less lighter than back, and 

 streaked with longlsh streaks of dark centered feathers. Quills 

 dark brown, light edged (not white, and with no white b ire). 

 Bick with feathers barely black, centered; crown more distinct, 

 and with closer pattern of the same dark centered feathers. 

 Above greyish blue elate ; the white ot eye and posterior part of 

 cheek a dull bnSy tint. No. 5 Length, 6.80; extent, 10 50; 

 wing, 3,45; tail, 3 45; bill, .48; tarsus, .85; middle toe and claw, 

 .80; hind toe and claw, ,78; claw, .43, Similar in color to the 

 others, but with the throat white, breast more baffy, spots quite 

 black, and much more thickly scattered, declled and longer; 

 white of eye and posterior cheek pure; the maxillary line hardly 

 reaching to chin, and very faint. No, 6. Length, 6.40; extent, 

 10-15; wing, 3.40; tall, 3,35; bill, .48; tarsus, ,93; middle toe 

 andcliw, ,86; hind toe and claw, .75; claw, .36; deep buff on 

 breast, closely spotted, white about the eye and cheek. No. 7. 

 Length, 7.00; extent, 11.50; wing, 3.70; tall, 3.60; blU, .50; | 

 tarsus, .90; middle toe and claw, .85; hind toe and claw, .70; 

 claw, .30; and In decided full Summer heat. Whitish, spots 

 larger and more decided on a scarcely buff ground, yet with 

 rather worn looking plumage. 



All these specimens had their gizzards quite extended with 

 legs and antenna ot beetles, intermixed with gravel stones of a 

 small size. The bird would often act as if the nest were close 



I' by, though I hunted in vain for it. I saw several young birds 

 just able, apparently, to take their first flight. The colors upon 

 them did not differ from those upon their parents. 

 The pipit breeds abundantly all along the Labrador coast, but 

 I seldom appears far south of the Canada line. / 

 I Amherst, Mass. 



